The Last Days
by Elli Joy
Summary: She was strange and unattractive; bland and pessimistic. She was struggling, breaking - no, she was already broken, but he's determined to fix her because underneath that impassive, dismal expression; underneath those cold, cynical eyes; underneath that matured, solemn countenance, there was a girl pleading to be let out - to have some fun. Jack Frost was determined to fix her.


Chapter 1

The scorching water was relaxing as it tumbled down my back, intermingling with strands and cleansing them of the illusory dirt that existed in between them. The consoling bath washed away the perspiration on my pallid skin and I pretended that it washed away my predicament as well, but it hadn't. The silhouettes of my monochrome ashen legs in the vaguely frothy water blurred and distorted with the light cerulean tint of the indispensable liquid. My younger sister's hazel-olive eyes gazed at me vigilantly, supervising me. She twirled her russet hair in between her peach fingers with an air of tedium and every so often she would pinch her leg to keep her awake.

"Azalea," I croaked, peering at her over my insipid shoulder, "It's almost time for school, isn't it? You should go get ready…Your education is important." She sat up instantly at the resonance of my voice and her mouth pulled into a frown on her fragile, adolescent visage.

Pale pink lips opened softly as she uttered, "Mom told me to stay here with you and that's what I'm going to do."

"You know better than that, Amaryllis." My mother snapped at me tenderly as she ambled into the room and dismissed Azalea with a diminutive appreciative beam. Azalea stood up with all the buoyancy that a ten year old girl could muster and sauntered out of the room, flashing me a big grin. My lips scowled at the back of the girl and my mother clucked her tongue, "Azalea knows watching you is important – don't tempt her with her education, Amary. And don't feel so guilty."

"She hates me, Ma. I know she does." I squeaked as her hands held a sponge and she began to rub my skin raw. My mother opened her mouth to say something, but I didn't give her the chance. "It's in her eyes, Ma. You see it too, I know you do. She tries, she really does. She's trying to be the good sister you praise her for being, but it's destroying her – I'm destroying her."

"Don't say stuff like that!" My mother snapped at me, the sponge slipping out of her hands in her flustered state. The revolting, dreary yellow lights flashed above us and I glared inexorably at the water. An overwrought, superfluous silence hung over the still, clammy air with an ominous stir.

"Ignoring it doesn't make it any less true." I finally hissed. My mother's hands flopped into the water with an exaggerated splatter and soap leapt into my eyes which I hastily scrubbed at, wishing for the throb to go away.

"She loves you, god damnit! She's fine, she knows the god damn responsibilities of taking care of you and she accepts it! So, for goodness' sakes shut up!" My mother screeched with her eyes brimming with tears. My hands gradually fell from my eyes and collapsed into the water that had stilled. "I'm going to work." She huffed.

She turned away from me, wiping her wet hands on her pants as she stalked out the door. Before she left, though, I whispered something that momentarily froze her.

"_She does, but do you?" _The door slammed shut behind her and I was left alone in the once warm water.

I vaguely heard her car start with a low mechanic roar as it rumbled down the street and away from the vacant residence. I pulled my knees up to my bare chest and my gauche, gangly arms immediately twisted themselves around my legs. My chin rested in the crook of my knees with an acquiescent and forlorn atmosphere as a small, trembling wheeze escaped my nearly purple lips. It was as if the one breath broke down a dam as tears sprang from my eyes and tumbled down my frozen cheeks; wretched, pathetic sobs ripped from the back of my throat. Each breath got harder to breathe and each tear got harder to cry as minutes turned to hours. It was only when the stale water splashed my face angrily did I eradicate myself from the white bathtub.

The rest of the day passed by quickly with a stifling, heavy weight of melancholy on my heart and soon I found myself cooking an early dinner as I awaited the arrival of my little sister. I always loathed the entrance of my sister after her school hours. It was always the same thing: Azalea would trudge into the house with her backpack slung over her shoulder, unaccompanied, and set her backpack on the gleaming timber floor that I'd always clean even though I was not supposed to. She would drag her feet as she entered the kitchen or living room (which ever room I occupied when she came home) and she would check on me. Afterwards, she'd haul her backpack to the dining room table and begin her homework. She _never _brought friends home. Most did not know that she _had _an older sister – an awkward, pale, scrawny older sister. I don't blame her; I would be humiliated too. So, it's safe to say I was flabbergasted when a brunette boy came stumbling into the kitchen with his hand grasped in Azalea's.

The moment he saw me his eyes darted to the floor and he apprehensively scuffed his shoe against the tile. Azalea blinked at me, her lips pursed in inspection. I shifted awkwardly on my sock clad feet, a knife clutched in my hand. Azalea's eyes narrowed at the gleaming weapon I wielded before looking at me pointedly. With force I did not know my frail body possessed, I stabbed it into the wooden cutting board.

"Johnny, this is my older sister, Amaryllis. Amaryllis, this is Johnny." She finally muttered and I gave a swift nod before I turned my back on them, promptly cutting the tomatoes up as I hid my flaming cheeks. I did _not _like company – she could have told me someone was coming over.

_At least she didn't come home alone, again. _A docile, optimistic voice whispered in the back of my psyche. The scowl melted from my face as an infinitesimal, placid smile grew. With my dark eyes, I peeked over my shoulder and watched the two younger children do their homework together. _Mom's going to be so pissed._

And she was. I had just set three plates of food on the table, the missing fourth one in the fridge, and the brunette, Johnny, nervously took a bite before avariciously digging in when the door opened with an exaggerated bang. Johnny – the poor boy – jumped in alarm, his head spinning around to look at the door as I tranquilly ate my salad. My mother hurried inside, her russet locks in disarray and her green eyes swiveling riotously, shrugging off her coat and her eyebrows furrowed in deep meditation. She was so deep in thought that she did not notice Johnny until Azalea gave a small clearing of her throat. Her eyes widened at the sight of the small boy and she hurriedly cleared her eyes of the fanatical gleam she received when contemplating.

"Ah-uh-um, A-Azalea who is this?" She stuttered before her countenance finally slipped into a friendly unruffled grin. Johnny's anxiety dissolved almost instantly as Azalea introduced them. The boy became completely at ease with her as the night went on, but we were not fooled. Behind her affable olive eyes, there was an angry spark and I almost grimaced at the screeching that was sure to come.

My sister and I watched dejectedly as the car vanished down the street and our juvenile visitor with it. The soft thumping of our mother's feet broke us out of our despair and we stiffened instantly as her rigid, jade eyes glared at us. We stepped away from the pane and watched as her fingers twitched sporadically, foreshadowing a squall to come. Her lips thinned and her emerald orbs snapped towards me heatedly and threateningly.

"Amary, leave." She ordered with no room for dispute. I let my fingertips graze my sister's arm before I left the dining room and turned into the hallway. I stopped at a concealed position and pressed my ear to the partition to eavesdrop.

"Azalea, what the hell were you thinking?" My mother stipulated.

"Ma, I-I just w-wanted to hang out with a friend…I didn't think you'd-" Azalea started before she was interrupted by our mother.

"That's right – you didn't think! What if he was ill? What if he was-"

"But he _wasn't!_" Azalea objected.

"But what if he _was. _Sometimes we have to make sacrifices for her – she's your _sister_ and she's way more significant than some companion of yours." She hissed. I didn't miss the way she spat out 'companion' like it was the venom of a king cobra.

"I'm tired of having to make sacrifices for her! I'm tired of being her sister! I wish she'd just- just _drop dead!_"

I felt my heart explode at her exclamation and I slowly, mutely slid to the floorboards. I wasn't shocked, not in the least. It still hurt – the excruciating strike to my already fragile spirit echoed drearily in the hollow of my chest. I could sense my eyes gloss over with tears and yet none fell. I held my breath agonizingly as I lingered patiently for what would be said subsequently.

"Azalea Lillibeth Summers, don't talk about your sister like that!" Our mother shrieked with a crackle of ache buried beneath the vibrant fury.

"No, I hate her! I hate Amaryllis! It's because of her that he's gone! It's because of her that I do bad in school! It's because of her that I have no friends! _I hate her!_" Azalea cried indignantly.

"You-" My mother didn't get to conclude her sentence as the thump of my livid, miserable fist on the flooring brought them out of their quarrel. I felt my eyes amplify as I comprehended my blunder and without thinking – _Oh, how I should have thought this through – _I leapt out of my arrangement and sprinted out the entrance, into the declining snow and bitter chill.

My legs burned as I dashed down the frozen road and my sock-clad feet blistered with each pounding of my heel on the atypical patch of asphalt. My chest ached with tenderness, breathlessness, and distress. My onyx eyes, which stung with the icy stab of wind and saline tears that implored to be unconfined, were unseeing as I pitched onward through unknown paths and unfamiliar streets. I knew I should have felt cold, freezing, but all I felt was the numbness that was brought with disappointment and the apprehension that I was correct. I was_ right. _

It was only when a lake blocked my path did I halt my ostensibly infinite dash. My legs, weak and frail, buckled underneath my weight and I fell into the snow. Cold seeped beneath my skin and within my bones, wracking my entire body with ailing trembles. Tears poured down my cheeks like streams and sizzled into the snow. Repellent wails tore from my esophagus, echoing into the murky night and throughout the hollow woods. A tentative hand on my frozen shoulder had me whirling around and maladroitly slipping on the icy exterior of the lake as astonishing sapphire orbs peered at me in sincere concern.

We both froze in shock, I from the sudden appearance of the unusual looking – yet indisputably attractive – male and he from something my vacuous psyche couldn't discern at the present moment. His fingers radiated wintriness and a quiver rattled against my spine, breaking the bizarre boy out of his trance. A broad grin slowly stretched his pale face as a small excited, stunned chuckle escaped his lips.

"You can see me?" He asked dubiously, eagerly, blissfully, and miserably all at the same time. His voice was empty with isolation yet overflowing with so many emotions that I felt my own heart lifting from the profound torrents of depression. I gave a measured nod, swiping the brackish water from my eyes. His smile faltered as he caught the action and his somewhat deep tone which I would never expected for him to have yet it fit him reached my ears, "Hey, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah," I stuttered as he fell to his knees before me and his other hand wrapped around my other shoulder blade. "My name is A-Amaryllis. I'm Amaryllis Summers…Who're you?"

"You can really _see _me!" He cried joyfully, enveloping me in a sudden hug that almost froze me to the core…literally. The embrace brought no body warmth but only more chill and he continuously squeezed me in the long two seconds. He only released me when I gave a diminutive sneeze. "Oh…right. I'm Jack Frost!" He beamed impishly at me.

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry it's so short...I promise the next one will be longer if you leave a review! This is my first fanfiction, so please tell me what you guys think! Do you like it, hate it? Is there something I can improve on (though there are always things someone can improve on)? **

**Please, please, leave a review…pretty please! It's not that hard! Just click the button and leave a "Great job!" or a "You can do better." Or something of the sort…It'll really help! Follow and favorite it as well!**

**-Elli**


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